Naturally, we weren’t shocked to learn that the company spent 30 years getting its first private jet off the ground. In 1986, Honda’s aviation team — led by a young aeronautical engineer named Michimasa Fujino — began work on the company’s ambitious foray into the aerospace industry. It was one of the final major projects greenlit by Soichiro Honda, the aviation enthusiast who founded the company, before his death in 1991.

In 2006, the Honda Aircraft Corporation was formed, with Fujino as its CEO, to develop, build, and sell the $US4.5 million HondaJet.

“The power of dreams is both the force and the philosophy that guide us at Honda,” Fujino wrote on the company’s website. “Now, Honda proudly brings you to the pinnacle of engineering performance — the HondaJet.”

He called it “the world’s most advanced light business jet.”

Recently, Business Insider had the opportunity to take a test flight on board one of Honda’s demonstrators at Morristown Airport in New Jersey.